Jersey's police vacancies cut to meet savings

Jersey's police force will no longer fill some of its job vacancies in order to meet savings targets for next year.

Robin Smith, the chief officer of the States of Jersey Police, told a scrutiny panel he had been asked to save £120,000 in 2027 by the Justice and Home Affairs department.

He said it would be a challenge as in recent years the force had "effectively stood still whilst demand has gone up".

Justice minister Senator Helen Miles said the savings plan was about "maximising the potential" to share resources.

"Additional money has come in over the last seven years but that has effectively been given back in savings," Smith told the panel.

"Just to make it clear, I think it is important that States of Jersey Police is a part of the other agencies in government that are making contributions to savings and trying to drive efficiencies.

"But it means we have effectively stood still whilst demand has gone up."

Smith acknowledged the force's savings target was "much smaller" than the £240,000 increase in its budget.

"Therefore, there is no chance this time around that we are giving back the money we are getting," he added.

"We have identified vacant police staff posts for that."

Sitting beside Smith, Miles added the police's saving target was separate from the £405,000 required for the other agencies in the Justice and Home Affairs department.

"We will work constructively across our departments to see how we can achieve that over the next year," she said.

"Each of the services have their own set of professional working standards.

"For me it's about continuous improvement, and making sure that we're maximising the potential for it sharing resources."

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